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Netherlands midfielder Quinten Timber has been ruled out of their FIFA World Cup 2026 Group F match against Sweden on Saturday (as per Indian Standard Time) after sustaining an injury during training.
The team's officials confirmed that the 25-year-old suffered a mild concussion following a collision in Thursday's practice session. Medical staff immediately assessed him and decided he would not be available for selection as a precaution, according to Reuters. "The moment Quinten had the ball, I ran deep," teammate Teun Koopmeiners told Dutch media as quoted by Reuters. "He wanted to chip it to me, and then it happened. It wasn't a super hard collision, as I understand it, but you do have to be careful." In their previous game against Japan, the Dutch looked on course for all three points after captain Virgil van Dijk and Crysencio Summerville twice put their side ahead, while Keito Nakamura had earlier levelled for Japan. However, a deflected effort from Daichi Kamada two minutes from time rescued a point for the Blue Samurai. Netherlands head coach Ronald Koeman stood by his tactical decisions and substitutions after Japan struck late to earn a 2-2 draw in their opening Group F match on Sunday (Local Time). Koeman came under scrutiny after making a triple substitution six minutes after Summerville restored the Netherlands' lead in the 64th minute. The Dutch manager later reinforced his defence by introducing a third centre-back, but Japan responded strongly and eventually found an equaliser after sustained pressure. Despite the outcome, Koeman refused to second-guess his decisions. "There was also a problem with pressure on the flanks. So if you look at the game, both goals, well, we didn't defend well," Koeman told reporters after the match, according to Reuters. "Football is a funny game because, after Japan scored the second goal, they started defending as well. So we could have scored a third goal. So I don't regret my choices," he added. The Dutch coach acknowledged that his side fell short of expectations and insisted there is room for improvement as the tournament progresses. "Of course, we can perform better, and we need to grow during the tournament. This definitely was not our best performance. Of course, we would have preferred to win the first game. We expected to," he concluded. (ANI)
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